


Side By Side

by heartsdesire456



Series: 25 Days of Fandom [11]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Conversations, Eggnog, F/M, Gen, Old Friends, Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-12
Updated: 2014-12-12
Packaged: 2018-03-01 03:16:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2757512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil Coulson and Melinda May reminisce about the old days during the team's version of a Christmas party.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Side By Side

**Author's Note:**

> This can be either gen or het, however you wanna see it. Best friends or pre-relationship. Doesn't matter how you read it.

Phil sat down beside May and passed her some more eggnog. Skye’s eggnog was mostly bourbon, but it was good and Phil felt warm and slightly tipsy. May actually smiled at him so he had an idea she was about the same. “I think Bobbi and Trip are talking about a dance-off soon. Skye’s eggnog seems to be working against our team,” Phil said and May gave a soft snort of amusement.

“Remember that time that girl… shit.” May leaned back against the seat of the couch they were sitting on the floor in front of. “Kaylins? Raylins?”

“Crawlins,” Phil said, then snickered. “That was in Belfast wasn’t it? In… hell.” He leaned back some. “That had to be about eighty-seven, right?” he asked and she nodded.

“Yep.” She shook her head. “She was so green. She just sat there guzzling Guinness to try and blend in. Got drunk off her ass.”

Phil nodded. “Started dancing to Whitesnake on the bar when she was supposed to be undercover. Pretty sure Nick put her on desk duty for a year after that.”

May sighed. “Nineteen eighty-seven. God, it’s hard to believe it’s been that long,” she said, shaking her head.

Phil groaned. “I’m pretty sure Fitz and Simmons were born that year.”

“Skye hadn’t even been conceived yet,” May added and Phil gave her a flat look. 

“Thanks for reminding me how old we are,” he said and she smirked over at him.

“How old you are, maybe-“

“We’re the same age,” Phil argued. 

May just nudged their shoulders together with a grin. “Yeah, but I aged better,” she teased. She laughed at the look on his face and drank more eggnog. “Man. When is the last time me and you got drunk together?” she asked, giving him a look.

Phil shook his head. “No idea. I can’t even remember the last time I had this much to drink. Definitely before I died.” He made a face. “That never stops sounding wrong,” he added and May grinned.

“Hmmm let’s see.” She leaned her head back. “Pretty sure last time I got this close to tipsy I fucked Ward,” she said and Phil snorted, rolling his eyes. “Oh whatever. I didn’t know he was evil at the time. Just hot, young enough to be too young for me, and up for a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

“Ha, tried that in the past. It just got weird,” Phil said. “I told you when I found out that it wasn’t a good idea,” he reminded her and she raised an eyebrow. “Let’s just say I learned the hard way.”

“Oh come on,” May argued. “It’s SHIELD. Sex and dating between coworkers happens so often the old SHIELD betting pools made it into the quadruple digits sometimes.” She winked. “I had three-hundred bucks on you and Fury secretly being a couple back in the mid-nineties.”

“Ew,” Phil told her with a flat expression. He finished off his eggnog and smirked. “I had two-fifty on you and Barton-“

“Barton?” she asked, grinning. “Come on, he was a baby when we got him,” she said. “He was easily ten years younger than me-“

“Ward’s nearly twenty years younger than you,” Phil countered and she shrugged.

“The old you get the less it seems creepy,” she joked. “Barton was a baby-faced new kid. I had better crap to do than get involved like that.” She glanced over at the others, who were sitting at the table talking and laughing. Only she and Phil were sitting off to the side away from them. She nudged Phil and smirked at him. “Wanna make a new wager. Just between old partners?”

He leaned closer. “I’m listening,” he said in a low tone.

May gestured to the table. “Fifty on Hunter and Morse only lasting about two months, seventy on FitzSimmons finally getting over their drama and screwing,” she said, smirking at Phil when she turned back to him.

Phil raised an eyebrow. “I’m not making a bet I know I’ll lose when it comes to Hunter and Morse. Those two always end up back together, but it never lasts long.” He grinned. “I’ll take you on the other one though.”

“Oh yeah?” she raised an eyebrow. “What makes you so sure you’ll win it?”

He held out his hand. “Shake first or I’m not telling.” May narrowed her eyes but nodded, shaking Phil’s hand. He smirked. “Three things. First thing: you’re right, they’ll get over their drama. Second thing: But Fitz is gonna end up screwing somebody else for sure because, third thing: Fitz only had those kinds of feelings for Simmons because she’s the only person who has ever understood him until they joined our team and it’s natural a kid that’s never so much as been on a date with anybody would get confused about what he feels for his best friend.” 

When he finished May raised an eyebrow. “Even if you’re right about his feelings for her being misplaced friendship and confusion, why the hell do you think he’s gonna screw someone else?” She frowned. “ _Who_ , actually? It’s pretty much Bobbi, Skye, or Simmons, and it’s definitely not Bobbi.”

Phil chuckled, staring at the others, before turning to her. “Take a look at the group for a minute,” he said and she did, watching the younger agents for a while.

After less than a minute, she cursed. “Goddammit,” she grumbled, then glared at Phil. “He’s bisexual. How did I not notice?”

Phil shrugged. “Lots on your mind lately? I’ve been slowly crazy. It helped to spend less time thinking and more time observing. I had a leg up but you still shook on it.”

She huffed. “You’re annoying again, so I can tell you’re better.”

“Sucker,” he said with a grin. Phil settled quietly for a while, eyes still on the others. “All those years together…” He trailed off and smiled. “It’s still me and you, huh?” He glanced at May, looking over her face. “Everything we knew. Everything we worked for. Friends dead or betrayers, all we spent the past thirty years working towards… all of it’s gone.” He smiled. “All of it gone, and we’re still here, Mel.”

Her smile softened as she saw the look in his eyes. “The first time I saved your life was in eighty-three. Remember what I told you?”

Phil’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “I got shot and I told you to leave me. You refused and promised you wouldn’t leave me there to die alone.”

She nudged their shoulders together. “I told you that you were my partner and if you were gonna die, I was gonna die right there with you. Otherwise, we were both making it out of there.” She shook her head. “I quit and you did without me there with you, Phil.”

“Wasn’t your fault, Mel.”

“I know,” she said, then shrugged. “But when you came back, I sure as hell wasn’t letting it happen again.” She smiled. “You’re still my partner. No matter what goes wrong, or how distant we end up being, no matter what secrets we keep from each other, you’ve been my friend for thirty-two years, Phil. It’s still me and you because that’s how it started and that’s how it should end.”

Phil looked her over, smiling as he looked at all the ways thirty-two years had changed her. There was still so much unsaid between them. Her eyes reflected that she knew it as well. It wasn’t as simple as either of them were trying to tell each other it was, and they both knew it. They’d both hurt each other a lot recently. There was a lot of stuff that they might never really get over. But he knew she was right. 

They’d been friends for more than half their lives. Things had come between them and probably would again in the future, but they always ended up right back where they were now. Side by side.


End file.
